Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home Life Faith Spirituality

Sr Melissa Dwyer: The world needs young people “now more than ever” to choose religious life

byGuest Contributor
10 May 2017 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
Canossian Sisters

Faithful together: Sr Melissa Dwyer (front left) with other members of the congregation of Canossian Sisters.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Canossian Sisters
Faithful together: Sr Melissa Dwyer (front left) with other members of the congregation of Canossian Sisters.

THE more I reflect on the call to follow Jesus as a consecrated woman, the more convinced I am that religious life is just as relevant and just as essential to the Church as it has ever been.

Religious life is radical.

Now more than ever, the Church needs young people who are ready to witness with the totality of their lives that Jesus is the most important thing for them.

Now more than ever, the Church needs young people who are ready to stand for their faith, irrespective of the challenges that they face.

Now more than ever, the Church needs committed people who are ready to risk everything for Christ and be open to go to the ends of the earth to serve those in greatest need.

Many young people desire to make a difference in the world. But perhaps they don’t realise that religious life is one concrete way of doing that.

Opening your heart up to the unconditional love of Jesus and having the courage to push away from the shore with Jesus sets you on the adventure of a lifetime.

Religious life is an opportunity to grow each and every day more in love with God, whilst living in a community of other religious who are also striving to follow Christ wherever He leads.

The vocation to religious life is ultimately about an encounter.

It’s about a life-changing encounter with Jesus that transforms the heart of someone.

Related Stories

Dominican priest killed while hearing confessions in Vietnam

‘A true shepherd’ – Brisbane priest Fr Ellis Clifford to be remembered at funeral tomorrow

Nigerian priest kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen ‘narrowly escaped death’

Once we meet Jesus and He speaks to our hearts, we are never the same as before.

What’s even more exciting is that religious life provides the avenue to have a daily transformative encounter with Jesus, allowing Him to stretch and mould us in whatever way He desires.

When speaking about religious life, Pope Francis said, “The Church and the world have need of this testimony of the love and mercy of God shown by religious.

“Totally consecrated to God, they are totally given over to their brethren, to carry the light of Christ there where the darkness is thickest and to spread His hope to hearts who are discouraged.”

With the world rocked to its core by terrorism and threats of war, religious life becomes a sign of hope and joy in the midst of despair.

In the midst of so much negativity that surrounds the Church, I believe living my life as a religious sister is a privilege.

It is a privilege to be able to serve the Church.

It is a privilege to be able to live my life completely for Jesus.

It is a privilege to live with a community of other women on a mission of making Jesus known and loved.

Sometimes when we hear the word “vocation” we think that one has to be perfect to even consider embarking on the journey of religious life.

How far from the truth that is!

One of the saddest things is that many young women feel a call to religious life but never have the courage to give it a try.

Attuned with a society that to a certain extent is afraid of commitment, young women sometimes miss the opportunity to take the first step of exploring a religious vocation.

Whilst sometimes it can be difficult for a young person to discern which congregation to join, there is a certain inner peace that comes when one is in the right place.

There’s no need to have all the answers at the beginning.

When I first entered religious life I had no idea of what this vocation was really all about.

Yet I continue to appreciate the beauty of the daily journey of sitting at the feet of Jesus and discovering more about His call to follow.

The vows of poverty, chastity and obedience give me opportunities to grow in freedom from possessions, love without measure and complete trust in God’s will for me.

At the end of it all, I love my life as a consecrated woman.

I love the opportunity every day to be available for whoever God calls me to serve.

I love the opportunity to witness to my faith, even without words.

I love the opportunity to ground my life in prayer which invites me to allow my relationship with Jesus to transform my life.

I would never have expected my life to turn out the way it has.

Yet it’s exciting to dream of the possibilities ahead of me in continuing to love and serve God with all that I am.

We each have one life to live. I want to make sure that I use every possible moment to spread the Good News.

In whatever opportunities arise I want to simply do the very best I can in deepening my love for God and allowing this love to transform the world.

If you want to make a difference, if you want to serve the poor, if you want to be radical in responding to the great gift of faith you have received, consider religious life.

It’s a radical adventure of a lifetime.

Where are you going? Follow Jesus. He is more than enough.

By Sr Melissa Dwyer

Sr Melissa Dwyer is a Canossian Sister from Brisbane. She works for Vocations Brisbane. To find out more about religious life, contact her at srmelissafdcc@gmail.com.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

The day the music died: Former Ten Tenors singer Nathan Kneen on living with anxiety before The Voice

Next Post

Priest who looked after Townsville for three years Fr Mick Lowcock honoured at ordination of new bishop

Guest Contributor

Related Posts

Vale: Dominican Father Joseph Tran Ngoc Thanh, who provided pastoral care for ethnic groups in the Diocese of Kon Tum, Vietnam, was stabbed to death while hearing confessions. Photo: CNS
World

Dominican priest killed while hearing confessions in Vietnam

1 February 2022
‘A true shepherd’ – Brisbane priest Fr Ellis Clifford to be remembered at funeral tomorrow
QLD

‘A true shepherd’ – Brisbane priest Fr Ellis Clifford to be remembered at funeral tomorrow

11 January 2022
Nigerian priest kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen ‘narrowly escaped death’
World

Nigerian priest kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen ‘narrowly escaped death’

3 December 2021
Next Post
Fr Mick Lowcock

Priest who looked after Townsville for three years Fr Mick Lowcock honoured at ordination of new bishop

pregnancy centre opening

Mater hospital to give round-the-clock care for pregnant mothers until six weeks after birth

Olivia Hargroder

Swimmer with Down Syndrome "on a mission" to level the playing field

Popular News

  • Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    Br Alan Moss remembered for a life of faith and learning

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Christian Brothers’ community mourn the passing of Brother Tony White

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Vatican

All Catholics invited to pray rosary for peace with Pope Francis next Tuesday

by Staff writers
27 May 2022
0

By Catholic News Agency THE Vatican is inviting Catholics to join Pope Francis in praying the rosary...

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

Gunmen kidnap two Catholic priests in Nigeria

27 May 2022
Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

Ethiopian cardinal brings sense of gratitude to Australia

26 May 2022
Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

Blessed Sacrament desecrated in robbery of sacred vessels at Canberra church

26 May 2022
Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

Pope Francis – ‘My heart is broken’ over Texas elementary school shooting

26 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping